On Tuesday, Osinbajo had said the
Nigerian National Petroleum Commission (NNPC) bears the cost of fuel subsidy and
not the federal government.

His comments came after Maikanti
Baru, NNPC group managing director, said the landing cost of petrol is now N171
as against the official retail price of N145.

But speaking on Wednesday, Fayose
wondered if there was any difference between the NNPC and the federal
government.

In a statement issued by Lere
Olayinka, his spokesman, the governor asked: “What is the difference between
NNPC and the federal government? Who is NNPC and who is federal government? Is
NNPC now an autonomous agency of the federal government?”

He said contrary to what is being
presented, the NNPC does not have the rights “to swap crude oil for subsidy”
nor to spend money it generates from the sales of crude oil.

He asked: “Where is NNPC getting
the money with which it is subsidising petrol with N26 per litre? Is NNPC
spending money from the sales of crude oil that should be paid into the
federation account to pay subsidy?

“I like the vice-president, he is
a pastor and I don’t believe that he will also join others in Buhari’s
government to lie to Nigerians.

“However, this one that he
presented NNPC as an agency of the federal government that can allocate fund
without the approval of the president is very strange to me.”

Fayose also wondered where the
money “is coming from” if subsidy is being paid by the NNPC.

“Is it from sales of crude oil?
Does it now mean that the NNPC is spending part of the proceeds of the sale of
crude oil outside allocation to the federal government by the Federation
Account Allocation Committee (FAAC)?” he asked.

“We were in Nigeria in May 2016,
when the federal government announced the removal of subsidy on petrol and went
on to increase the pump price of petrol to N145 per litre.

“The same APC people, who
protested against removal of subsidy and increment of petrol price to N140 in
2012, defended the removal in 2016 and increment of pump price to N145.

“In 2017 budget of the federal
government, provision was not made for the payment of fuel subsidy, so also
that of 2018. So where is the N26 they are subsidizing one litre of petrol with
coming from? Is the Buhari-led government spending fund not appropriated by the
national assembly?”